20th Anniversary of the Power Group

October 2005

A new CEO for Power and a new plan for the Power Group

Local government VIPs shared with leading figures from construction and developments’ related industries on Thursday 3 November 2005 at Power Construction Coastal’s year-end function on Thesen Islands.

While the band was thumping, the outlook of the speakers and guests was equally up-beat: “South Africa and Africa are going through one of the most positive phases of my life,” said chairman Graham Power. “I believe that God has blessed this country of ours.”
Referring to his Group’s successes in helping to train up a skilled workforce for the industry, Power quipped: “Having too few skilled people is a far better problem to have than having to downscale.” He said that in 22 years of industry ups and downs his company has never had to retrench anyone.
In what he described as “a very emotional, special and rewarding moment”, Graham Power announced that André du Preez would take over the reins of the construction legs of the group, as CEO of Power Construction. Power will continue as chairman and major shareholder of all the group’s companies.
Power Coastal’s Paul Thiart accepted the SAFCEC Presidential Award of excellence and Arcus Gibb was awarded the SAICE award, both for achievements at the Thesen Islands project in Knysna.

November 2005

A new CEO for Power and a new plan for the Western Cape

Local government VIPs shared the dance floor with leading figures from construction and development related industries last Thursday evening at the Power Group’s year-end function at Ratanga Junction.

While the marimba players and rock band were thumping, the outlook of the speakers and guests was equally up-beat: “Cape Town, South Africa and Africa are going through one of the most positive phases of my life,” said chairman Graham Power. “I believe that God has blessed this country of ours.”
Referring to his group’s successes in helping to train up a skilled workforce for the industry, Power quipped: “Having too few skilled people is a far better problem to have than having to downscale.” He said that in 22 years of industry ups and downs his company has never had to retrench anyone.
Picking up on the point of training, Marius Fransman, MEC for Transport and Public Works, shared Power’s views: “Economic growth and growth in the construction industry go hand in hand. The challenge confronting all of us now is to deliver on the President’s vision of growing the economy by six percent. We’ve put in place a programme – the ‘Skills for Jobs’ strategy – and we aim to bring together the best minds in the Western Cape, irrespective of race. We believe we will make a difference in the Western Cape, the Home for All.”
In what he described as “a very emotional, special and rewarding moment”, Graham Power announced that André du Preez would take over the reins of the construction legs of the group, as CEO of Power Construction. Power will continue as chairman and major shareholder of all the group’s companies.
Power Coastal’s Paul Thiart accepted the SAFCEC Presidential Award of excellence and Phillip Grobbelaar received the SAICE award on behalf of ARCUS GIBB, both for achievements at the Thesen Islands project in Knysna.

November 2005

‘n Nuwe hoof vir Power en ‘n nuwe plan vir die Wes-Kaap

Leiers in die plaaslike regering en bekendes uit die konstruksiebedryf het op die dansvloer kennis gemaak tydens die Power Groep se jaar-einde funksie verlede Donderdagaand in Ratanga Junction.

Dit was asof die rockmusiek en marimba-klanke saam met Graham Power die oplewing in die konstruksiebedryf wou besing. “Die Kaap, Suid-Afrka en Afrika beleef tans een van die positiefste tydperke wat ek nog ervaar het. Ek glo dat God hierdie land van ons ryklik geseën het.”
Met verwysing na die groep se welslae in die opleiding van ‘n werksmag vir die bedryf, het Power geskerts: “Om te min opgeleide mense te hê is ‘n beter probleem om mee te sit as om mense te moet afdank.” Hy het bygevoeg dat sy maatskappy in 22 jaar van goeie en taai tye nooit iemand weens oortolligheid hoef afgedank het nie.
Marius Fransman, LUK vir Plaaslike Regering en Behuising, het die aspek van opleiding verder gevoer: “Ekonomiese groei gaan hand aan hand met ‘n opswaai in die konstruksiebedryf. Nou is die uitdaging vir ons almal om die President se visie van ‘n groeikoers van 6% tot uitvoering te bring. Volgens Fransman gaan hul nuwe “Skills for Jobs”-strategie die beste breinkrag in die Wes-Kaap byeenbring, ongeag van ras of kleur. “Ons gaan werklik ‘n verskil maak hier in die Wes-Kaap, die Tuiste vir Almal.”
In wat hy beskryf het as ‘n “baie emosionele, besonderse en verblydende oomblik”, het Graham Power aangekondig dat André du Preez die leisels van die konstruksie-sy van die groep sal oorneem. Du Preez is die nuwe uitvoerende hoof van al die konstruksiemaatskappye, terwyl Power die voorsitter en grootste aandeelhouer van al die groep se maatskappye bly.
Paul Thiart van Power Coastal het die SAFCEC-toekenning in ontvangs geneem, en Pierre Grobbelaar het die SAICE-toekenning namens sy maatskappye ontvang. Beide toekennings was vir uitnemendheid in die Thesen Island-projek by Knysna.

November 2005

Power scoops SAFCEC Presidential Award for 2005

Power Construction Coastal – one of the Power Group of Companies – has been honoured for “outstanding achievement” by the president of the South African Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors (SAFCEC).

The accolade was presented in recognition of Power Construction’s innovative approaches and solutions put to work during the construction of the highly successful Thesen Islands marina development at Knysna.
SAFCEC president Bryan Westcott singled out this challenging project as the best submitted for his adjudication. In its submission Power Construction had focused on issues and solutions regarding environmental impact, job creation and marine construction challenges.
Power MD André du Preez accepted the award at SAFCEC’s annual convention at Sun City. For him, winning the award is a reflection of the depth of commitment shown by the Power Construction teams over the many phases of construction. “I would really like to thank all who played a part in the success of the project – consultants, architects, project manager, each representative of the client consortium… everyone. And from Coastal's perspective, all those staff members who had been involved in the project during any of the phases. Many thanks for the long hours and for tackling the real challenges that we had to overcome.”
Power Developments is the largest shareholder in the Thesen Islands Development Company. Power Construction Coastal was responsible for the civil works. This involved the waterways, roads, bridges, sidewalks, water supply and sewage reticulation.
Working constantly against the tides and the rising water table, and always mindful of the sensitive wetlands eco-system, Power Construction Coastal had to devise many resourceful solutions. The island was divided into 19 islands, separated by a maze of canals seven kilometres long, and connected by a network of roadways and small bridges.
The Presidential Award is presented annually to a SAFCEC member in recognition of “outstanding achievements”. These may range from a solution to a difficult problem, to endeavours in the face of adversity, excellence beyond the line of duty and innovative construction techniques.
THE POWER GROUP OF COMPANIES
Steady growth over the past 21 years has seen the Power Group expand its operations into a number of different specialist companies. Today is founder and CEO, Graham Power, heads up the Power Group of Companies, employing more than 1600 people and providing a comprehensive range of civil engineering, blacktop paving, manufacturing and township development services with regional offices in the Western Cape, Southern Cape, Eastern Cape and soon Gauteng.
Marlene Cronje, Organisational Development Director, says: “The Power Group is committed to Employment equity and thus also to the empowerment of women in the industry. Women are represented on all levels throughout the company and our intent is to not only have women in clerical or administrative positions, but also in technical careers. We were therefore proud to appoint our first female Engineer, Alex Capostagno, in 2002. We have also allocated bursaries to 3 female students for 2004, and are proud to play an important role in their education and training.”
The Power Group furthermore focuses on the development of women within the company. All staff members have personal development plans, which address their aspirations, the competencies needed for present and future positions, as well as the behaviour competencies required. This has played an important role in the development of the female workforce and many women have over the past years progressed to more senior positions as a result of the latter.
Marlene holds Honours degrees in Social Work and Industrial Psychology. She was appointed to the board of the Power Group in 2001, and after consulting to the Group for five years, joined the company on a fulltime basis in 2002.
She says: “I do not regard the Construction Industry as a man's world. It is an industry for people, both male and female, with guts, tenacity, a willingness to work hard, and for people who enjoy overcoming challenges and have a passion for what they do.”

December 2005

Renting – a cost-effective means of boosting capacity

Western Cape-based Power Group of Companies, has ventured into Gauteng. Because its extensive fleet of construction equipment is being used in an array of other projects in the Western and Southern Cape, the company has had to supplement its fleet with rented construction equipment for the Gauteng contract. Henri-John Kock visited the site.

Power Construction North has been contracted to undertake the earthworks and civils at the new Gateway mall project near Rooihuiskraal in Centurion. Construction started in October 2005.

According to site agent, Wilhelm du Toit, time is critical. Work at the site involves removing about 5 000 m³ of topsoil, then trucking in about 27 000 m³ of selected G7 material from a borrow pit located about 8 km from the site.

Because Power Construction’s large fleet of vehicles and machines are being employed in other projects in the Southern and Western Cape the most cost-effective solution has been to supplement capacity with a significant number of rented machines from a variety of plant companies in Gauteng.

Plant can report an interesting agreement with a specific rental company that is saving Power Construction more money.

Jodan plant has a set of four Tata 10 m³ dump trucks. These Indian workhorses sell for a price well under R700 000, which includes VAT. This means that one can almost buy three Tatas for the price of two of the more traditional names.

According to Nico Pretorius of Jodan Plant, the Tatas outperformed all the other trucks on the site. At the time of going to print, the trucks had done about 5 000 km each – a consequence of the fast-track nature of the Gateway project. He said that the trucks work from 07:00 to 21:00 at times to bring in enough material. The trucks have not had their first service yet, so he is unable to comment on the back-up service offered by Tata. While operational costs are therefore not totally clear, Pretorius reports that diesel consumption is on par with the other brands of trucks used on site.
Divided site

Du Toit explains that the site has been divided into two. This includes the building platform section and the roads/parking areas. As the project has been accelerated, the building-platform portion is critical, and Du Toit has therefore focused on completing the platform sections to allow the builder, Concor, to proceed as quickly as possible.

Watching the trucks work in concert with other machinery on the congested site is fascinating.

They travel on a clearly demarcated road on site and drivers practice extreme caution. The material is dumped by the trucks and then spread by a Komatsu grader. It is a slick operation. The truck arrives, parks at its dump point and dumps, with the grader waiting a few meters behind it. The truck has hardly left when the grader levels the material. Trucks arrived at regular intervals – two to five minutes between each truck.

Compaction starts when the spreading is completed. Du Toit says that compaction requirements changed from 93% to 95%. For this reason, the 10 t Hamm vibratory roller was inadequate. The company had to therefore bring in an additional 20 t Hamm vibratory roller. “The difference in rates between the two machines isn’t much – maybe R30/h – but once one starts operating, the difference in fuel consumption is obvious. The 20-tonner uses just about double the fuel that the 10-tonner uses,” he says.
Another interesting rental arrangement

Dolomatic rocks on site are being crushed on site for sub-base material.

Elphick Earthworks supplied a Metso crusher with accompanying loader and excavator. Du Toit says that the hire agreement was based on the volume of material crushed as opposed to being charged hourly rates. All he had to ensure was that the crusher’s excavator could keep it fed with rocks and that the loader had somewhere to dump the crushed material. However, Du Toit had enough material to keep his processes running.
Centurion is well known for its dolomites. This site is no exception, and excavations had to go down fairly deep in order for the geotechnical specialists to assess the underground conditions. A decision had been made to excavate the rocks, leaving Power Construction with an interesting problem. The rocks were already open, so blasting in this built-up area was out of the question.

Du Toit says that it would have been possible to blast using specialised techniques, but given the timeframes involved, this would have taken too long, and therefore the premium cost of the hammers became acceptable.

January 2004
Business and government leaders rate Power great

Power Group scoops “best of breed in construction”

Plus seven other prestigious PMR awards

South Africa’s business and government leaders have rated the collective initiatives of the Power Group of Companies as “best overall” in the construction sector – an accolade that once again underlines the Group’s commitment to the well-being of the environment and the communities in which it operates.

The annual Professional Management Review (PMR) corporate social responsibility survey asked respondents in 500 companies to nominate outstanding companies and government sectors, and to position each on a rating scale.
To determine the perceived leader in each industry sector, the national PMR survey sourced 11 861 such ratings across a list of 21 sectors.
In a repeat performance of previous years’ PMR achievements, the Power Group walked off with no less than seven sector awards, plus a finalist certificate and the “Best Overall” award.
Professional Management Review’s Corporate Care Awards recognise and honour companies that are trying to build a better South Africa for all, and aim to encourage others to follow their example.
The Power Group is no stranger to industry awards – or to social upliftment projects. In 2003, Power Developments was lauded as the IHSA Housing Developer of the Year for the Eastern Cape region, for its contribution towards affordable housing during the R40 million projects at Peddie and Ugie.
Power follows a holistic approach to Corporate Social Investment. It contributes to numerous investment and outreach programmes, and involves itself not only on a financial level, but on a physical and personal level as well. The Group embraces a high commitment to social responsibility, environmental stewardship and personal ethical responsibility.
A show of Power

PMR Corporate Care and Empower Survey.

(Power Group’s rating for each sector out of 5.)